Guitar Slim

Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones (December 10 1926 – February 7 1959) was a New Orleans blues guitar player from the 1940s and 1950s best known for the million-selling song produced by Johnny Vincent at Specialty Records, "The Things That I Used to Do", a song that is listed in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.cite web
url=http://www.bsnpubs.com/specialty.html
title=Specialty Album Discography
publisher=
accessdate=2006-11-25 ]

Early life

Jones was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, USA. His mother died when he was five, so his grandmother raised him and he spent his teen years in the cotton fields. He spent his free time at the local juke joints and started sitting in as a singer or dancer; he was good enough to be nicknamed "Limber Leg." [http://shs.starkville.k12.ms.us/mswm/MSWritersAndMusicians/musicians/GuitarSlim/GuitarSlim.html]

Career

After returning from World War II military service, he started playing clubs around New Orleans, Louisiana. Bandleader Willie Warren had introduced him to the guitar, and he was particularly influenced by T-Bone Walker and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. About 1950 he adopted the stage name "Guitar Slim" and started becoming known for his wild stage act. He wore bright-colored suits and dyed his hair to match them, had an assistant follow him around the audience with up to 350 feet of cord between amplifier and guitar, and would occasionally get up on his assistant's shoulders, or even take his guitar outside the club and bring traffic to a stop. His sound was just as unusual — he was playing with distorted guitar more than a decade before rock guitarists did the same, and his gospel-influenced vocals were easily identifiable.cite book
first= Hans-Joachim
last= Braun
year= 2002
title= Music and Technology in the Twentieth Century
edition=
publisher= The Johns Hopkins University Press
location= Baltimore, Maryland
pages= p. 194
id= ISBN 0-08018-6885-8]

He got together with Muddy Waters in Los Angeles for some lively playing.cite book
first= Paul
last= Oliver
year= 1984
title= Blues Off the Record
edition=
publisher=Da Capo Press
location= New York, N.Y.
pages= p. 266
id= ISBN 0-306-80321-6]

Recordings

His first recording session was in 1951, and he had a minor rhythm and blues hit in 1952 with "Feelin' Sad", which Ray Charles liked enough to cover, and also to play on Slim's later recordings.

His biggest success was 1954's "The Things That I Used to Do", which is supposed to have come to him in a dream:Fact|date=February 2007:"A devil and angel fought each other with their own sets of lyrics. Of course, being a blues song, the devil's lyrics had won out."

The song was released on Art Rupe's Specialty Records label. The New Orleans swampy feeling and utilizing church-sounding chords,it was a stunning song and instantly went to the top of the charts nationwide. [cite book
first=Michael Erlewine, Valadimir Bogdanov,
last= Chris Woodstra & Stephen Thomas Erlewine (Eds.)
authorlink=
coauthors=
year= 1997
title= The All Music Guide
edition=
publisher=Miller Freeman Press
location=Los Angeles
pages= p. 501
id= ISBN 0879304235 ]

The song spent weeks at number one on the R&B charts and sold over a million copies, soon becoming a blues standard. The tour made on the strength of this song sold out a week of dates at the Apollo Theater, something even Sammy Davis, Jr. wasn't able to do.Fact|date=February 2007

Slim was a great drinker and a womanizer; he missed some 1954 tour dates due to a car accident involving alcohol, and he was often said to have a different woman with him every night. He continued to write and tour, and had some other hits such as "It Hurts To Love Someone" and "Down Through The Years," but nothing at the level of "The Things That I Used To Do."Fact|date=February 2007

He recorded on many labels, including Delmark Records and Specialty Records. [cite web
url=http://www.rootsandrhythm.com/roots/BLUES%20&%20GOSPEL/blues_s5.htm
title=Sunnyland Slim -> Roosevelt Sykes
publisher=Roots & Rhythm
accessdate=2006-11-17 ] The recordings made in 1954 and 1955 for Specialty are his best.

Death

His career having faded, Guitar Slim became and alcoholic, he then died of pneumonia in New York City at age thirty three.cite book |title=The Down Home Guide to the Blues |last=Scott |first=Frank |year=1991 |publisher=Chicago Review Press |location=Chicago |isbn=1-55652-130-8 |pages=p. 59 ] After his death blues musician Pat Chase took up the name "Guitar Slim" as a tribute to his legacy in 1971. Guitar Slim is buried in a small cemetery in Thibodaux, Louisiana, where his manager, Hosea Hill, resided.

Influence on later musicians

Guitar Slim's wild electrified guitar style influenced Jimi Hendrix. American rock musician Frank Zappa cited Guitar Slim as a major influence on his style of guitar playing. Buddy Guy was highly influenced by Guitar Slim, especially by his stage performances. Albert Collins names Guitar Slim as one of his most important sources of inspiration. Also Stevie Ray Vaughan recorded a cover version of "The Things That I Used to Do". [ [http://www.sonymusic.com/artists/StevieRayVaughan/catalog/3.html Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble: Catalog ] ]

Notes

External links

* [http://allmusic.com/cg/x.dll?p=amg&sql=B354 AllMusic]
* [http://www.cascadeblues.org/History/GuitarSlim.htm Cascade Blues]

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